Dutch mayor helped Syrian family hide after asylum refusal

The mayor of a Dutch city took matters into his own hands when a family of Syrian refugees had their asylum application rejected, according to local media.

Jos Heijmans, the mayor of Weert in the southeast of the Netherlands, helped the family hide while he took the case to higher authorities. Heijmans, of the liberal D66 party, said he had written to the national government and was starting legal proceedings over the case of a Syrian woman plus her four children who had been refused asylum several times.

The mayor said the EU’s Dublin rules — under which asylum applications must be made in the EU country where the migrant first set foot — meant the woman had to apply for asylum in Germany. She was unsuccessful. Her brother had been granted asylum in the Netherlands.

Heijmans told a meeting of Weert’s municipal council he did want to see the family split apart.

He told the broadcaster NOS that the family had been given shelter by volunteers. “I knew about this and I did not try to stop the volunteers. I support them,” Heijmans said. “In this case I followed my heart, not the rules.”

Interior Minister Ronald Plasterk said “in principle everyone should stick to the rules,” but said he would look into the case.